Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Call now to open Victoria Pool before the end of June

call:518-486-1868 to get Victoria Pool open before the end of June. After spending over $1.5 million to save it the Victoria Pool sits empty until the end of June. Please call the Albany Parks Office above to urge them to open it sooner.

22 comments:

Anonymous
said...

June 23 sounds about right. The park should be fully staffed (remember those attendants are generally high school students) by then and the weather should be good for swimming. Oh wait! Isn't that the date it is scheduled to open anyway? I guess Parks does know what they are doing!

You are one hundred percent wrong, that should not be the priority for SSSP. Their priority should be getting the entire park up and running. Many people like to use the picnic areas during those short three months of summer you refer to. Also, the fact that Saratoga Springs' citizens, ordinary or otherwise, do not have a public swimming pool is not the state's problem. Why don't you harass and annoy your local officials for a change.

Doesn't Saratoga Springs send their fire department to Saratoga Spa State Park if there is a problem? Isn't the water supplied to Saratoga Spa State Park from Saratoga Springs? Your contempt for the people who pay your salary is astounding---but consistent.

First of all, the traditional opening day for the Victoria Pool as well as all NYS parks pools statewide is June 23rd, NOT Memorial Day, and has been June 23rd for years and years. If you had done your homework, you would have found this out. Secondly, why do you ask the pool to be opened "before the end of June". It IS going to be opened before the end of June; it is to be opened on June 23rd and as far as I know, that IS NOT the "end of June".Thirdly, the Victoria Pool was opened on Memorial Day weekend for a few years in the early 2000's with poor results which is probably why it was reverted back to June 23rd.You need to learn more about your cause before you ask people for help. Let's face it.....you want the pool open when YOU feel it should be open regardless of how much it costs extra to do that. You are a handfull of pushy individuals who likes to be in the news. It makes you feel very important to throw your weight around and like children, you can't stand to be told "NO". The more you are told NO, the more you seem to tantrum. How sad, I feel very sorry for you people.

The Victora Pool only opened later in June when it was so neglected the State could not get it operational. Your facts are 100% wrong. We have folders full of newspaper articles with the opening date for decades.

Well you are almost right. It opened in later June while it was under repair. There is a difference between that and it not being open because it was unable to operate. It is dumb, stupid and irresponsible to open one pool before another. I, for one, think it is a tremendous waste of money to open the Victoria Pool a month before the Peerless to accomdate...let's face it...YOU PEOPLE! I know this will never penetrate your little bubble but your statement, "Victoria Pool and the Peerless are the only public pools for Saratoga Springs ordinary citizens. That should be the priority for Saratoga Spa State Park for the short three months of summer." only proves what any normal person already knows, your claim about protecting "future generations" is GARBAGE and that you are just grown people throwing a tantrum because you can't go swimming.

Opening the Victoria Pool on Memorial Day for four years in a row in the early 2000s did not bring in enough people to make it feasible. These are the facts regardless of your newspaper articles. Opening the pool any earlier just so your tiny organization can sit on the deck is absurd. It is a very expensive proposition and you don't seem the least bit concerned that it will be cutting into the Spa Park budget. There is only so much money to go around and if more is spent on something not cost effective like opening the pool too early, then corners somewhere else in the park have to be cut. You don't get it and never will because you only are concerned about yourselves. You are the ones that are ethically wrong and the public needs to be told that.

If the attendance numbers did increase it was because the public wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The way your society came out with full fangs showing its no wonder people were curious. And once again, you prove yourself a hypocrite, above your society takes credit for the increasing attendance numbers but in your posting to SilverLight you said "silverlight, thank you, but we have never taken or want credit for anything. we only want future generations to have what we did at Saratoga Spa State Park." Give it a rest...you are making complete fools of yourselves.

I have no idea if Mamarose is a park employee as you seem to think from your statement, "Your contempt for the people who pay your salary is astounding---but consistent." If he/she is, his/her reaction is understandable. The society's contant harassment of park staff is not a joke. Which member of the society would enjoy not only having someone constantly telling them how to do their job, but also telling the general public and higher ranking Park Officials what a lousy job they are doing. The society is constantly saying how wonderful staff is and then in the next breath saying how run down and neglected the park is. Who do you think gets the blame for this "neglect", the politicians that decide on the operating budget or the former Commissioner? I think neither. It is the park staff that is doing the best they can with the money and manpower available to them. I can only hope that Commissioner Ash will recognize the society for what it is...a group of self-serving hyprocrites. It is time that money is spent on other areas of the park too, like the Peerless Pool where thousands of kids are more than welcome.

I see my post script, but did you choose not to post my reply? I am only trying to ensure my peaceful afternoons at the pool and am apparently not alone, since I am not the only one posting as "anonymous".

I, too, have posted under the "anonymous" name and some of my responses have not been posted either. Clearly the "society" feels threatened by us. This society is a money waster that wants all the funds spent on themselves. I, for one, want to see other areas of the park improved.

Sorry, we do not have time to answer each of your comments. You should be very clear that many of the hard-working employees of Saratoga Spa State Park want the Victoria Pool open as soon as possible as we do--if not more.

Surely everyone can not understand that they don't have the time to answer them all! What the hell else better do they have to do? This pool is their entire life! They're just afraid to acknowledge the fact that their cause is full of hot air.

Traditional Opening Day Countdown

Contact Info:

Email: vicpool@aol.com

Save The Victoria Pool Society is a grass-roots group formed in June 2003 to restore, maintain and preserve the Historic Victoria Pool and Saratoga Spa State Park with its architectural treasures opened July 26, 1935. The Victoria Pool was known originally as the Recreation Center then the Spa Pool and sometimes The Pool in the Pines. In December 2003, Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro announced that $1.5 million would be spent on the restoration of the Victoria Pool over the next two years. Our local federal, state and city elected officials also helped to get the money to rehabilitate the Victoria Pool. Warren Holliday, Regional Director, was in charge of the restoration. The Parks Commissioner is now Rose Harvey under Governor Cuomo. The Manager of Saratoga Spa State Park is Michael Greenslade. In March 2008, Alane Ball Chinian, became the new Regional Director under Governor Patterson. Current Board members are: Co-Founders: Louise, Andrew. Board Members: Stanton, Carole, Maureen, Barbara, Sebastian, Doug, Paul, Anita, Tom, and Mark.